Keyon,
Admonish him? David probably wanted to throttle Joab!

Why assume that Joab was not looked right in the eye by David, behind closed doors, and told that David suffered him to live. That it wasn't worth the time, blood, and treasure David knew it would take to bring this matter to a close. Joab's vanity and temper nearly undid all the efforts at unity. For his part, David retained the services of his ablest commander. Joab got to live.

Joab was constrained to always work diligently for David's honor. If it ever looked as though he were setting himself up, possibly for a coup, David had Abner's murder to bring up. Like TedKeneddy knew he would never be more than a Sntr from Massachusetts after Chappaquiddick, Joab would never be more than CJCS. Just the ranking lieutenant of David. And everything Joab did FOR David, to make his name great, meant he could not possess that glory for himself--it just made David stronger. Compare that to Absolom's treachery, as he undermined the people's confidence in his father.

Joab knew in his heart that David would be justified if he called him to account. Joab was a powerful man, that is, he was general of the armies. For David to move against him, he would need either a case that would unite the nation on his side, or accept the inevitability of another civil war. "But we just got DONE with a civil war! Aw, man!"

For David to promise Joab that he would keep him for now, but later he was going for his head--what kind of subordinate would accept conditions like those? An idiot.

Later, when a new king would arise (Solomon), when Joab was old and no longer commanding armies, David was sure justice would have its due. As Fred noted, Joab tried to continue in power at the end of his life, into a new administration. He tried to play kingmaker. He wanted to remain the éminence grise, and live high for a few more years.


If we look at these situations as true-to-life scenarios, as we read them with a social and political sophistication, we can see how so much of our own time, of all history, is reflected in the biblical vignettes. This is not a recommendation to read Redemptive History as a political tract or manual--how to do or not do things. But rather, as we evaluate those situations in light of biblical morality and wisdom, we learn how to interpret our own life and times.

__________________
Rev. Bruce G. Buchanan
ChainOLakes Presbyterian Church, CentralLake, MI


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